Monday, September 30, 2013

Good evening! It was a beautiful Monday for the most part.....it started off a bit rainy but ended up being a perfect day:) I hope you had a wonderful weekend....we accomplished a bit of Fall cleanup which always feels nice to get done.

I found this bench for a couple of bucks at a garage sale this past spring.

She needed some sprucing up so I sprayed her green. After the spray paint dried I distressed her with some black paint. Here she is now....

Friday, September 27, 2013

Good Morning everyone, it's Friday and the end of the work week. I normally blog on Thursday but it got away from me and the day was gone before I knew it, so here I am on Friday. It's beautiful in Michigan today and it makes one ambitious to get things done. Well here are some bar chairs that are kinda of modern but I loved the simply lines but the upholstery was a real mess. Here is the before picture:

They were really ripped up and I knew I had to do something with them.

As you can see there wasn't much to save on them. I had found some adorable vinyl made by Modea up at a landscaping store in the Clare area of Michigan. They have such a wonderful selection of materials and craft items. I just fell in love with this print and thought that it would really be fun on these stools.

I had started out by stripping the torn vinyl off and then had to try to figure out to finish them. The bottom of the seat was not a problem, I stapled the vinyl and overlapped the edges and stapled to the underneath of the seat. The back of the chair was another problem.. It had been stitched all the way around and I couldn't do that with my sewing machine.

So I copied the pattern on the back of the seat and left a 1/4" edge to the cut out pattern. I than sewed the right sides together and turn it rightside out so that I had a pocket sewn with the top edge not sewn. I than slipped the back of the chair into the pocket. Now I had to enclose and hide the top edge. I decided to add tacks, silver ones to the top and it did the trick. It also copied the metal legs and added a little bit of bling.

So here are my chairs and I have 4 of them. I am only showing 2 but I think they came out really fun and colorful. They match my garden of hydrangeas.

Couldn't you see these chairs giving a kitchen or a game room or even a family room a pop of color?

So, what do you think? Better or worse? Until next time, Dianne......................

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Hello!!! What a gorgeous day we had here in Michigan. The sun was shining and there was a little crispness in the air. I LOVE fall days. Looks like they are slowly coming our way.

Anyway you are probably wondering why the title says "Just a Dollar". That's because this idea only cost me one dollar!! I am so excited because I think I can make a few more with the supplies I have for just as cheap. My neighbors are great for getting some fun supplies on garbage night. I usually try to sneak them out of the garbage before they know but I think they have kind of caught on. They just chuckle at me. This time I discovered some old, worn down pieces of wood. I grabbed all of them to either try to build a piece or use them for sign making. I just love the rustic, worn down look of these pieces of wood. I figured to make this sign I wasn't even going to re-paint them. They were fabulous just the way they were. So instead of trying to paint my own words on it I went to Wal-Mart and picked up one of these nifty quotes for only a dollar!! Super easy and I thought it looked great on this piece of wood. I can't wait to try a few more. I hope you like it and have a spectacular evening.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Good morning! It's a chilly Fall morning here in Michigan:) It's time to get out the pumpkins and apples!! I enjoyed a weekend away with my Mom and sisters. We've been going to the Springfield, Ohio flea market for nine years now. It's always such a blast....we found a lot of treasures and enjoyed some good 'ole belly laughs! I always look forward to our Flea Market weekend:) I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

I found these metal flowers at an estate sale this past summer. I thought they were super cute and scooped them up quickly!

They were a bit rusty and the colors were a bit dull. These flowers were in need of a little sprucing up.
I pulled out the yellow spray paint and gave them a few light coats. Here they are now.....They looked cute in my flowers, however, I brought them to our "Shabby Gals" space and they sold quickly.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Good Morning everyone. It's Thursday once again and I am looking forward to going to the annual Springfield Antique and Flea Market being held this weekend in Ohio. It's so much fun and always so much to look at and to drool over. Lots of treasures. Hope we have a good weekend, weather wise and I know it will be fun with my 3 daughters. Anyways, here is my latest project. It is this cute little desk that was already painted green and kinda of antiqued. I wanted a little different look for this cute desk. Here is my before picture:

I wanted to change up the hardware and I was thinking of doing something with chalkboard paint. Actually my daughter Jackie suggested painting some of the desk with that paint.

So I took off all the hardware and starting painting all the tops of the desk and the 2 bottoms drawers with Kilz paint. I wanted the chalkboard paint to stick to the desk, so I prepped the tops and the drawers with the Kilz. Than I painted black chalkboard paint where I wanted to and sprayed the hardware with a hammered silver spray paint.

I put the desk all back together and this is what it turned out like.

And here is what my hardware turned out like after I sprayed painted them.

A few of my doodles.

And my little green chalkboard desk.

So what do you think? Better or worse? Until next time, Dianne........................

Monday, September 16, 2013

Good evening to you! Today got away from me and it's a bit later than I usually blog:) We are still getting used to this new school schedule....hopefully your school year is going well! The best part is my son is loving school so far....and we are hoping his excitement continues:)

I scored this trophy this past summer. The tag under it states that it's from IKEA.....I've never seen these there before. I quickly scooped it up knowing exactly how I was going to transform it. I actually received my inspiration from Miss Mustard Seed who is extremely talented on so many levels.

I gave the outside of the trophy several coats of chalkboard paint.....leaving the inside paint free. I just love the whimsical feel it now has...don't you?

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!!
Looks like we are going to enjoy some fantastic weather this week.....so we'll have to take advantage of it and enjoy the local parks!!!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Good Thursday! Our weather here in Michigan is sure finicky. We had a wet and a somewhat cool summer and now that kids are back in school we have 95 degrees and humid weather. Oh, well that's Michigan for you. Well, I have a fun little project for you, actually it took a little bit of time but I love the uniqueness of this cabinet. When my husband brought this home I really liked it but it was so beat up. I forgot to take the real before picture but here is the Kilz picture before I painted it a fun turquoise color.

I really liked the unique hardware that this little cabinet was sporting.

The skinny little door was fun, too.

So I started painting with a turquoise paint both inside and out. It took a little bit of time and than the drawers would not fit back in so I had to sand some of the drawers down and than repaint. When the paint was finally dry I came back to add some details and some shabbiness to the cabinet with white paint. I just had a little bit of fun with this one and I think it is a little chic.

Isn't this hardware unique?

So here is my little cabinet all done. What do you think? Better or worse?

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Hello!! Once again just getting around to blogging so late in the evening. No excuse but I didn't get on the computer earlier during the day. It might just be because of this little 19 month old who is currently yelling "mommy..mommy...mommy" at my feet. I should feel really good because even though her Daddy is home she still seems to want to sit right by me at all times even though I have been the one she has been with all day. She is most definitely a mommy's girl. I will just enjoy it for now though because I am sure she won't always want to be right by her mother.

So once we are talking, or I am talking about a little girl this piece of furniture that I recently revamped was done with a little girl in mind. When I picked up the piece I didn't think it was really anything special but I knew that a simple color change could transform it. Since it was a smaller piece I decided it might look best in a bedroom or bathroom. For a bedroom or bathroom I thought I could pull off any color I wanted and I chose pink. I figured it would work really well in a little girls room. They could have their own little shelf to put all sorts of treasures on. I put a primer on and then sprayed it with pink. I usually don't like to spray paint because I never get it to look very nice but I wasn't about to try to brush all those tiny spindles. I then took out some sand paper and gently roughed up the edges and legs just to add a little character. Over all I think this dated piece took on a whole new life with a touch of pink. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.

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About Me

Three gals that share the same interests for making something out of nothing. Dianne, Jackie, and Jessica are a mother-daughter team . We are just beginning to establish what we are and what we do. Years of working on projects for our own houses has turned into a passion that we now want to share with others with similar interests. Take some time and look through what we have created. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact us.
Contact us @ shabbygals@hotmail.com